Land Sales

Hotel Development Opportunity in east Victoria Park

In parallel with planning and construction of a $500-million expansion that will transform Calgary’s BMO Centre into a Tier 1 global convention venue, CMLC and Calgary Stampede and are seeking proposals from developers interested in building an adjacent hotel. Beyond servicing the needs of the BMO Centre’s global clientele, the hotel will be situated at the heart of the Cultural and Entertainment District now taking shape in downtown Calgary’s east end, catering to visitors of the Calgary Stampede, the Scotiabank Saddledome, Arts Commons and numerous other cultural and entertainment venues in the area. For more information click here

LEASING OPPORTUNITYHOSPITALITY CONCEPT WANTED FOR MAIN AND LOWER LEVELS OF THE HISTORIC ST. LOUIS HOTEL

THE OPPORTUNITY

For nearly a decade, the former St. Louis Hotel in East Village had been a sleeping giant—a designated heritage site and a storied local landmark where some of Calgary’s most colourful characters met, planned and made history. Recognizing that our heritage assets present exciting opportunities to recreate East Village as a uniquely compelling destination, in 2013 Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) —the City of Calgary’s independent development company—carefully refurbished the three-storey building, preparing it for an innovative hospitality business concept to define its next era. And that era begins now.

Located at 430 – 8th Avenue SE, the century-old building features a new steel structure, a beautifully refurbished open floorplan, three light wells clad with white paneling to cast natural light throughout the building, and exposed brick, mechanical, electrical and structural elements that evoke the rustic industrial feel of yesteryear. Among the character-defining elements we carefully preserved is the hotel’s iconic 1950s signage. The second and third floor office space operates as CMLC headquarters. The leasable space on the main and lower floors spills out onto the vibrant 8th Avenue cul-de-sac, which has been brought back to life by neighbours like Studio Bell, Calgary’s New Central Library, and the thousands of residents who call East Village home.

The St. Louis Hotel is well suited, in CMLC’s view to entrepreneurial businesses with the artisan spirit of the Maker Movement—an ideal fit with the ‘village retail’ dimension of CMLC’s overall retail strategy for East Village. While the building’s zoning allows for many potential uses, we envision a main-floor restaurant or craft brewpub. In the lower level? Perhaps a speakeasy that’s entirely modern but recalls the Prohibition-era secret clubs that were prevalent when the St. Louis was originally built.

Building Highlights and floor plans

east village retail vision

East Village is a 49-acre master planned community at the Confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers in downtown Calgary. Since 2007 Calgary Municipal Land Corporation has invested to transform the area into Calgary’s Newest, Oldest, Coolest, Warmest Neighbourhood. Designed to maximize livability and lifestyle, East Village will be home to more than 11,000 residents at buildout in 2027.

The East Village strategy calls for a dual approach to retail development that contemplates two formats, ‘Urban Format’ and ‘Village Format’.

Urban format refers to destination-style, urban-scale retail suited to provide inner-city neighbourhoods with staple necessities such as groceries. Leading the way for urban format retail in East Village is RioCan’s Fifth and 3rd Shopping Centre which will be home to Loblaw’s City Market and Shoppers Drug Mart when it opens in Q1 of 2020.

Village Format retail envisions niche, service-oriented retail that delivers intimate, convenience-style offerings. They are shops and restaurants that are located in street level spaces and provide the neighbourhood with its character. The hospitably concept envisioned for the St Louis Hotel building will fall under the ‘Village Format’ and would work to develop and enhance the personality of the neighbourhood.